By evening on Wednesday the seas had calmed somewhat and the ride to our next stop is much gentler than the previous days ride. Our route took us further west and south. The day was cool with light winds. The captain informed us that we were cruising at a relaxed 7 knots, down from the 12 knots of previous days. We had plenty of time to reach our next island paradise, Lifou, part of the Loyalty Island group.

On Lifou, we toured a botanical garden and vanilla farm. The botanical garden tour was interesting with many plants we had never seen before. Some looked similar to those we know from the US but many others were completely new. There were flowers of many colors and a few interesting birds as well. The vanilla farming was new to us. Vanilla plants were introduced here in the late 1800’s. Unfortunately, the island has no insects which are capable of fertilizing the flowers. Wisely, the farmers have declined to introduce any new insects to the island to fertilize the flowers. Farmers here have to do the fertilization by hand, one flower at a time. This limits the size of a crop to the quantity that can be hand fertilized by the workers on any particular farm. The total production of vanilla beans from Lifou are consumed within New Caledonia. Sugar cane farming is important in the islands and it is used for rum which consumes much of the vanilla production.

Following the visit to the botanical garden and vanilla farm we were taken to the Cliffs of Jokin, a scenic area along the northern shore of the island. The road to this area was single lane. We never met another vehicle but had that happened, one vehicle would have to pull aside into the brush for the other vehicle to pass. The cliffs themselves provided a high overlook on the lagoon below. The waters were a beautiful blue green with a clarity that allows looking at the bottom of the lagoon. The island is an uplifted coral atoll and the cliffs are ancient coral reef. We walked down 200 to the lagoon which gave us a good view of the cliff face. It is quite a beautiful area with the dark cliffs, some shallow caves and a small island near the base of the cliffs. We lingered here before returning to our bus.

Once we returned to the dock area we spent some time browsing the market area set up for tourists. There was a dancing group performing at the market. With bamboo columns pounding on ground for drums and ankle bracelets of shells they danced and sang. The group consisted of two young girls, the older was the song leader. Her role was to start each song with the others chiming in after a note or two. There was on adult woman and three young men. The young men sang and danced. Their faces were painted and unlike the smiling girls, they were serious, striking a variety of threatening poses. Two older women worked out front of the dancers, quickly weaving palm leaves into baskets.

We picked out a sundress for Louise and a shirt for me. We wore them to dinner that evening. Since retiring I have adopted tropical wear for my formal attire and the shirt certainly fits the bill. Louise in her sundress becomes a bird of paradise, everyone noticed how beautiful she was wearing the bright dress covered with hibiscus.